The community center was filled with terrified people like me that day, willing to risk the relative safety of their homes for the COVID-19 vaccine. We were all hustled into neat groups, separated by a safe distance from the comorbidities of each other.
I could say I was lucky that time to get the vaccine. Hundreds, if not, thousands of people were waiting to get vaccinated, but because of the limited supplies, the Philippine government had to ration the supplies.
Because of my anorexia, I was given the privilege to be vaccinated ahead of the general population. We were lumped together as the comorbidities group—some of us had hypertension, some had respiratory diseases, and some were autoimmune compromised.
But even among this crowd, my condition is rare. I am a long-time sufferer of anorexia, it has plagued me since its first onset at age 14. Cowering in that community center, scared of getting COVID-19 at age 40, I was still anorexic. But as I have learned to live with anorexia all my life, I was relatively healthy. Or you could say, functional.
I did not hesitate to get the jab, but many people were. There were rampant rumors at that time, that the vaccine my government chose to disseminate was inferior—but I insisted. I would rather have any vaccine than no vaccine. I was scared to die because of COVID-19. My kids are relatively young. I don’t dare think of what will happen to them if they lose their mom because of a preventable disease.
I also have too many things left undone. Looking back at that moment now, I still have many things left undone, but I’ve already started to make progress.
That year I got the vaccine, it was as if everything was put on pause. All of our ambitions and our plans were thrown up into the air. Nothing made sense anymore. I remember how everybody would just live one day at a time, one week at a time. People we know were dying left and right. It was utter chaos.
I took a selfie as a memento following my vaccination. But I also did it so that I have hard evidence, just in case I need to show it to authorities. Before long, restrictions were enforced in my city: only the vaccinated can travel, get out of the house, and ride public transport. I still have this selfie on my phone today.
The featured image on this blog was AI-generated by me using free tools, namely ChatGPT, Canva, and Leonardo AI. I use these images to support my written content creatively and cost-effectively.
